To be fair, the switch to trap robbed him of a ton of what made him so good. He was a dead man walking at that point.

Agreed. When he started down the road of being McPhee's coaching proxy, which really was after the Habs series IMO, he was never going to be here long term. He even said you have to be true to yourself and that he stopped doing that and that was his biggest regret in DC.

No, he lost the room after having them charge into the playoffs face first at full speed for 4 straight years only to hit a brick wall.

But you're right, we should have fired/let go the 23 idiot players instead of the coach who couldn't do anything with them. At least then all John Wayne types on this board could be super gung ho about putting ****ers in their place for the next 4 years. That's all that really matters after all.

I've seen progress in the system, especially the games in Fl.. I think the big problem now is they just dont have the talent needed to take it to the next level.. Sans the Rags game, players were where they're supposed to be, but couldn't/wouldn't execute.. They were fortunate to get past FL/Tampa but I fear more struggles until we have a real shakeup in management (GM) and then in the team..

Yesterday I got lucky and watched the LA Kings play the Edmonton Oilers, Man the announcers had a hard time getting their breath because the game was so fast. The Kings won but it wasn't determined till the very end. They passed and hit till they finally succeeded. Edmonton also played very well. If you want to show the Capitals how to play the right way show them that game. Had to stay up late but well worth it.

8-2 could easily be 8-6. Toronto still has 10 wins with mostly AHLers and the supposedly unrecoverable dumpster fire Burke left behind.

Montreal's big offseason signings were Prust and Armstrong. Neither of them are bigger difference makers than Fasth. At this point I would be more upset about missing out on Therrien than a coached that ultimately failed here.

8-2 could easily be 8-6. Toronto still has 10 wins with mostly AHLers and the supposedly unrecoverable dumpster fire Burke left behind.

Montreal's big offseason signings were Prust and Armstrong. Neither of them are bigger difference makers than Fasth. At this point I would be more upset about missing out on Therrien than a coached that ultimately failed here.

I think he has made progress. I think the roster is poorly built -- worst in several years -- and the team has been through 3 systems in 18 months, with Oates's being the most complex, comprehensive, and demanding of the three.

Well said. I have seen an improvement of overall play. They seem to be playing more as a unit now. That's not to say they don't have breakdowns still. Once they get over those, they should be all right.

I was really hoping for a win over the Rangers, but man, they fell apart. However, I did see some extended bursts of unified play. They just need to keep it going. I don't know why they had trouble connecting passes in that particular game.

There is no comparison. Montreal's offseason moves are nothing but role players at this point while Anaheim's offseason moves are all playing major minutes and bigger reasons for their success.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Brad Tolliver

8-2 could easily be 8-6. Toronto still has 10 wins with mostly AHLers and the supposedly unrecoverable dumpster fire Burke left behind.

Montreal's big offseason signings were Prust and Armstrong. Neither of them are bigger difference makers than Fasth. At this point I would be more upset about missing out on Therrien than a coached that ultimately failed here.

food for thought. do you think barry trotz or lindy ruff ever lose the room? i would bet you that the players get tired of them as players get tired of all coaches. the difference is that in those two markets the players know that guy is the coach and it ain't gonna change. if you dont want to play for the guy, leave when you are a free agent.

i thought it at the time before things went off that boudreau was the best coach the caps had ever had. it appears his stuff was not a fluke, shootout or not.

maybe if mcphee had let him coach and backed him up as coach, it might have been different.

i really wonder. will the caps ever find another coach as good as he? i like adam oates but they are desperate to win and oates is sticking with the whole playing right is more important than winning otherwise.

food for thought. do you think barry trotz or lindy ruff ever lose the room? i would bet you that the players get tired of them as players get tired of all coaches. the difference is that in those two markets the players know that guy is the coach and it ain't gonna change. if you dont want to play for the guy, leave when you are a free agent.

i thought it at the time before things went off that boudreau was the best coach the caps had ever had. it appears his stuff was not a fluke, shootout or not.

maybe if mcphee had let him coach and backed him up as coach, it might have been different.

i really wonder. will the caps ever find another coach as good as he? i like adam oates but they are desperate to win and oates is sticking with the whole playing right is more important than winning otherwise.

food for thought. do you think barry trotz or lindy ruff ever lose the room? i would bet you that the players get tired of them as players get tired of all coaches. the difference is that in those two markets the players know that guy is the coach and it ain't gonna change. if you dont want to play for the guy, leave when you are a free agent.

Those two markets also lost multiple core players because they wouldn't pay them.

I think those are more set plays and roster strategies than a "system".

In general, it's supposed to be a "hybrid", which I would also call "balanced" or "normal" in the sense that offense and defense are equally important. And we know the d-men are supposed to activate and pinch more.

Beyond that, what do we actually know? We knew DH went with a kind of "man to man" defense that often created massive confusion. Oates seems to have gone back to more of a zone defense (thank god). And players seem to be more prone to take shots instead of just trying to feed the same 2 or 3 players all game long (the PP excepted).

Other than that, what is there? What's the neutral zone and forecheck policy? It seems like an active forecheck and not a trap, correct? Is there a difference in spacing or dump vs carry in philosophy? Are there set plays and standing orders for positional rotations?

Or are they just going out there with some general concepts like "support" and "work the cycle" and allowing their years of hockey experience to carry it out on the fly?